Device for repairing railroad-rails



w. STECKLER." I DEVICE FOR REPAIRING RAILROAD RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, I920.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

- momma UNITED STATES WILLIAM STECKLER, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

DEVICE FOR REPAIRING RAILROAD-RAILS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

Application filed February 24, 1920. Serial No. 860,789.

for Repairing Railroad-Rails; and I do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to an improved device for repairing damagedrailroad rails,

and it has more particular reference to one which is especially designedfor use in connection with street railway tracks, although it is not tobe restricted to such use.

During continued operation of cars, the rails, due to the poundingimpact of the wheels, become cracked and damaged. Such cracln'ng in themost instances occurs at the point where the ball of the rail joms theweb, especially within a close distance of the end of the rail, wherethe latter joins another rail.

At the present time, so far as I am aware, it is the general practice,when repairing damaged rails, to remove the entire damaged section andreplace it with an entirely new section. This method of repairing railsinvolves considerable expense in that considerable excavating must bedone, after which the new rail must be secured in position by riveting,welding or bolting it to the existing rail. Some tracks are laid bypermanently welding the rail sections together to formvcontinuous rails.1th this method of track laying, considerable difliculty is alsoexperienced in repairing the rails when they become. damaged. I am awarealso, that rails are sometimes repaired by the employment of asupplemental section which is inserted in a space formed in the mainrail by removing the damaged portion of the latter. However, suchdevices of this type as I am familiar with are so constructed thatconsiderable cutting of the main rail is necessary, or the main rail hasto be especially prepared to permit use of the supplemental rails, whichare of such construction that a special supplemental rail section isnecessary for each dififerent rail section, hence they do not adaptthemselves for general use.

It is therefore the object of this invention to overcome, as

much as possible, the above expensive and crude methods of repairingrails, by the provision of a simple device for this purpose which willpermit easy and quick repairing of the rails at the joint, or at anyother point, by merely removing the damaged portion of the ball only, insuch a manner as to produce a substantlally rectangular space, whereuponmy supplemental rail is inserted in this space and secured in position.As my device includes an apertured attaching plate it can, inpractically all instances, be secured in position by making use of theusual existing boltholes in the main rail, thus obviating the necessityof expensive drilling as is usually necessary.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the abovementioned character in which means for securing it in position alsoserves as a fish-plate when used at the joint of two rail sections, thuspermitting the old worn fish-plate to be discarded.

. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout thesame:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of two sections of a street railway rail,showing portions of the ball removed so that my device may be appliedthereto.

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of a device constructed inaccordance with my invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my device applied for use.

Fig. 4: is a perspective view of two rail sections, one of them having aportion of its ball removed.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of Fig. 4, showing my device asit appears when associated with rails wherein only one of them has aportion of its ball removed.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the plane of the line 6-6 of'Fig. 2.

Before describing the construction of my invention in detail,.I desireto call attention to the fact that my device is of such constructionthat it will fit any existing rail section within reasonable limit. Thatis to say, one pattern will fit many rail sections now in use as thedevice is to be placed in position on the outside of the rail, and as ithas a specially constructed type of attaching plate, this plate willserve the function of the usual fish-plate which may be removed anddiscarded. Thus, the device acts both as a fish-plate, and as a supportfor the supplemental ball to be put into place. In the drawings, I haveshown two rail sections 1 and 2, which are of the construction nowemployed for street railway tracks. As is Wellknown, the rail sectionsare laid in such a manner as to cause the ends of each to abut oneanother to provide a continuousrail. As before stated, constant poundingof the car wheels against the rail at the joint causes the ball,deslgnated at 3, to become cracked at the point where it joins the web4: of the rail. Such cracking of the ball occurs in most cases, at theends of the rail sections, and, as before stated, considerabledifliculty is experienced in re pairing the rails.

I have devised a device, which is inclicated as a whole by the numeral5, to permit effective and quick repairing of the rails. This deviceincludes a ball 6, and an attaching plate 7, the latter being providedwith a plurality of bolt-holes 8.

From an inspection of Fig. 1, it will be seen that the ball 3 of therail extends beyond the outer face of the web 4 a greater distance thanit does beyond the inner face, and therefore when the repair device,which has the ball 6 extending beyond the opposite side faces of its web7 an equal distance, is put in place with either face of the web 7engaging the outer face of the web 4:, the inner and outer side faces ofthe balls 3 and 6 will be flush as shown in Figs. 3 and 5.

Should the rail sections 1 and 2 become damaged, the portions thereofmay be removed in any suitable way. Inasmuch as cracking of the ballusually occurs close to the end of the rails, it is only necessary inthe majority of cases to remove about five inches, and the ball of mydevice may be inserted into the space formed by removing the damagedball.

As the main rail sections are usually provided with bolt-holes, for theattachment of the fish-plates, and as I provide the attaching late 7with bolt-holes to register with the olt-holes in the main rails, itwill be seen that my device may be secured in position by means ofbolts, and-the necessity of drilling special holes for its connectionwill be obviated. In this way, a great expense will be saved. Sometimes,only one of the rail sections will become damaged,'and, as shown in Fig.4, it will be necessary only to remove a portion of the ball of thissection .only. In fact, my device may be effectively used to repairrails at any point where they become damaged, that is, after the ballbecomes cracked at the point where it joins the web of the rail. Thisdevice is so shaped that the attaching plate for a short distance beyondthe ends of its ball'6, supports the newly'made end of the-existingrail, thus preventing further damaging of the existing rail.Installation of my device may be accomplished without disturbing theexisting rail in the least. In the foregoing description, I have madefrequent use of the words existing rail. These words are intended tomean, the rail which is in place at the present time.

Iy device has been in actual use for some time, and has proven to beextremely satisfactory. The time consumed in placing it in position, isvery short; in fact, its installation does not interrupt the trafiic inany way. The time consumed in many in' stances, is only about threeminutes, so it will be seen, that where street cars run on' scheduletime, and where the schedule is about two minutes, the placing of mydevice in position will not interfere with the traffic.

It is to be emphasized, that employment of a device constructed inaccordance with my invention will be found extremely satisfactory, inthat it will not weaken the main rails in any manner whatsoever.. It maybe installed in a few minutes, and the same bolts and bolt-holes whichserve to retain the usual fish-plate in position, may be also used inretaining my device in position. It not only serves as a support for'theball 6 thereof, but it also serves to supportthe ball of the main railsections. It is also to be noted that the entire upper edge of theattaching plate is not in contact with the heads of the main railsections, but a portion thereof is spaced away from the heads, so as topermit the plate to be conveniently welded in place, if so desired.

A careful study of the foregoing description, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings will enable the reader to obtain a thoroughunderstandingof my device. For this reason, further description isdeemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, that the form of my invention herein shownanddescribed is to be taken as a preferred form of the same and thatvarious minor changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a pair of rail sections each having a web and aball carried by the web, one rail having a portion of its ball cut awayfrom the end of the rail, of a plate fitting against the webs of therails beneath the balls thereof and connected with the webs, and a ballsection extending longitudinally of the upper edge of said plate andbeyond opposite sides thereof an equal distance and occupying the spaceleft by the portion of the rail ball cut away, the plate extendingbeyond the ends of the ball section carried thereby and extendingbeneath the balls of the rail sections to support and reinforce thesame.

2. A rail repair device of the character described comprising a platefor fitting agamst the webs of a pair of rail sections 10 beneath theball portions thereof, and a ball section extending longitudinally ofthe upper edge of said plate and terminating short of the ends thereofand extending approximately an equal distance beyond opposide side facesof the plate for filling the space left by a section of a rail ball cutaway.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM STEOKLER.

